Most of the time branding comes down to paying attention to the littlest details and putting them into the littlest things - like your voice mail message, fax cover sheet and even your automated out of office email reply.

Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing gets this.

In true Andy fashion, here�s his vacation reply that I received recently. Instead of the typical fact based message this made me stop, laugh and think of Andy�s brand. It�s always the little stuff!

Without Andy�s permission (he�s camping somewhere) - I share it with you. Hope he�s ok with that, if asked just tell him you sent him an email and this is the response you got.

I�m off on vacation from Aug. 13-24.
No, really, I am. For real.

I�ll be camping somewhere, with minimal access to phone and email. If it�s an emergency or urgent new business, please send an email and I�ll call you from a Starbucks.

Actually, they recently installed a Starbucks in the trunk of my car, because having a store every 80 yards just wasn�t enough.

Other options:
1. Take a vacation too.
2. Call my office #. It forwards to my cell. I�ll check messages on occasion.
3. Order a shipment from http://www.corkysbbq.com/
4. Procrastinate by writing a silly and long out of office message.
5. Find me a new assistant, hire them, then have them call me. (Seriously, I�m hiring a new team, so send resumes.)
6. Read the funniest thing ever written: http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html
7. Buy this album: http://www.amazon.com/Fillmore-East-Frank-Zappa-Mothers/dp/B0000009S9/

Cheers,

Andy

9:24:13 PM    

No one likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy. Most of what passes for marketing materials and copy is doomed from that start - it loses the interest of the prospect at �hello - I�m hear to sell you something.�

Your marketing materials should be designed in such a way that your prospects are guided logically along a path of education, trust building and relationship development.

In the beginning your prospects believe that your firm is pretty much like any other firm that does what you do. And, on the surface they are right. If you are an electrical contractor, you probably do wire a ceiling fan the same way every other electrician does. The difference though is in the way you provide the service, the way you clean up after the project, the way you communicate, your professionalism, your training, your 27-point safety checklist, and your personal story.

That�s the stuff they need to hear about. That�s the stuff that will make them say, �This is someone I can trust to come into my home, this is someone I would refer to a friend.� Don�t turn your prospect off right from the beginning with the typical sales copy.

I have created a new small business marketing product that addresses this very topic. The program is called Magnificent Marketing Materials. Have a look.

9:24:10 PM